Today is the first generation of kids expected to live shorter lifespans than their parents

Why is chronic disease on the rise?

It’s happening for a few reasons.

Reason #1:

Our modern diet and lifestyle are out of alignment with our genes and biology.

In other words, what we eat (highly processed, inflammatory foods) and how we live (too much sitting, not enough sleep, chronic stress, etc.) are no match for the way our bodies have evolved—and thus we’re out of sync with our surroundings, unable to function optimally.

Reason #2:

Our current medical model is the wrong tool for the job.

Conventional medicine is designed to address acute and traumatic medical conditions—infection, fever, wounds, broken limbs. But its singular focus on house-on-fire emergencies is no match for the slow, persistent burn of chronic illness.

Reason #3:

We’re not set up to offer the most effective kind of care.

Seven minutes with a doctor is not enough time to put sustainable lifestyle changes in place to support long-term health. We need a healthcare system that emphasizes and supports the interventions that will have the biggest impact on preventing—and reversing—chronic disease.

Left unchecked, the tide of chronic disease will continue to rise—and destroy our quality of life, killing millions each year.

… That means the answer to the healthcare crisis isn’t just more doctors.

We need people who provide that vital (and missing) layer of support to help patients make lasting diet, lifestyle, and behavior changes, cope with stress, and provide moral and emotional support.

We need health coaches.

You can have a bigger impact than you realize.

Helping people to change their diet, lifestyle, and behavior is the single most important step we can take to reverse chronic disease.

In fact, I believe that health coaches are just as important as—if not more than—licensed clinicians when it comes to addressing the chronic disease epidemic.

Do you have what it takes to be a health coach?

Think back to the last time you helped someone through a tough or confusing time.

Did you…

Tell your friend or family member what to do … or did you listen?

Have all the answers … or ask good questions?

Try to get that person to do what you thought was right … or support her as she made the decision that was right for her?

The best kind of support—the kind that makes a difference—doesn’t come from the person with the highest degree, biggest income, or most connected network.

It comes from the person who knows how to be present, to listen, and to offer unconditional support.

… It also means you’d make an excellent health coach.

“But don’t I need a special degree or medical credential to do that?”

That’s because as a coach, you aren’t practicing medicine; you’re using your own arsenal of coaching tools, paired with your natural communication skills to help your clients:

Identify their own motivation and strategies for change

Align their actions with their values

Develop achievable, measurable goals

In other words…A coach is not an advice giver.

Health coaching is not about being a “health expert.”

Fact is, anyone can give advice. But not everyone can help another person tap her own potential for change.

Advice is just information.

If information alone could create change, then Google could cure chronic disease (spoiler alert: it can’t).

Most people already know what they should be doing, and simply telling them to do it isn’t going to magically change their behavior.

Your job as a coach is not to be an “expert” on health, but a catalyst for change in another person.

Let’s clear up a few other myths while we’re at it…

Myth #1:

Health coaching isn’t a “real” profession

Inconsistency and low standards have harmed the coaching profession. But the idea that it isn’t a “real” thing couldn’t be further from the truth.

Truth: Fact is, the current medical system is ill equipped to address the epidemic of chronic disease—which is why health coaches will play a vital role in the reinvention of healthcare.

Myth #2:

You can’t make a living doing it

Again, completely untrue. Now, having strong coaching skills is not the same as having business acumen, and you need both.

Truth: Coaching is like any career—it takes time to grow. There isn’t just one way to earn income as a coach, either—you can work on your own in private practice, in a clinical setting, or for a company, school, or other organization. There are plenty of opportunities for making this a sustainable and profitable career.

Myth #3:

There are too many coaches already—the market is saturated

I wish we had that problem, where we had so many qualified coaches that we didn’t need any more! But that simply isn’t true.

Truth: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health coaching (along with other health professions) is growing at a faster rate than any other occupation. The statistics on chronic illness speak for themselves. Highly skilled coaches are crucial for helping people make lifesaving behavior change. In short, the world desperately needs your passion for health, and your compassion for people.

How do I know if health coaching is for me?

Does this sound like you?

You are:

A great listener and natural connector

You’re a gifted and passionate communicator who loves to create real and thriving connections one on one.

Passionate about better health

You’ve watched loved ones struggle (or struggled yourself) with chronic disease, or experienced the transformative effects of healthy living, and want to share it with others.

Dying to make an impact

You’re hungry for a way to make your work matter, whether by adding skills to your current role or starting a new career altogether. Either way, you’re ready to make a meaningful contribution to a critical cause whose results you can see.

What kind of training do I need?

There’s no question that a skilled health coach has had plenty of training.

But here’s the thing: It’s the Wild West out there!

Virtually any educational institution can call itself a health coach training program. And anyone can take one and hang out their shingle the very next day.

When a coaching program doesn’t adequately prepare the coach, not only does the coach suffer, but the client does, too—along with the entire reputation of the coaching profession.

If we want health coaches to be taken seriously and given the respect and credibility they deserve, we need to establish and maintain guidelines for how they should be trained, the skills they should acquire, and how they should operate in their practice.

Introducing the ADAPT Health Coach Training Program

I designed this program specifically to:

Uphold high, evidence-based standards

Directly address the steep rise in chronic disease nationwide

Close the frightening gaps in the current healthcare system

Equip, support, and train health coaches to do paradigm-shifting work

What’s included in the ADAPT Health Coach Training Program

This comprehensive program ensures that you get everything you need to establish and grow your coaching career.

Education & Training

Top-notch content on the art and practice of coaching, functional health, and professional development, delivered in a way that informs—without overwhelming.

Community

A tight and connected group of ambitious and health-minded professionals like you dedicated to maintaining supportive relationships with their clients and each other.

Practice & Supervision

Our emphasis on practical application, mentorship, and peer-to-peer coaching means that you’ll have plenty of focused feedback and guidance and never be left to fend for yourself.

Career Development

Health coaching doesn’t start with serving clients, but with finding them. We help you set up, establish, and structure your work so that you can run it as a profitable business.

Ancestral Advantage.

The most powerful lens for focusing your nutrition and lifestyle recommendations

Few health coaching programs offer much in the way of nutrition training. Those that do tend to give an overview of different diets—Mediterranean, vegetarian, vegan—without making any specific recommendations.

We provide in-depth and evidence-based training on ancestral health and nutrition. We’ll tell you what works, why—and how to customize it for your clients.

Why an ancestral diet?

The reason we’re able to provide far more practical diet and lifestyle recommendations than any other program is because we take an ancestral approach to diet and lifestyle—the most effective approach for preventing and reversing disease. Here’s why:

Like all organisms, humans adapted to survive and thrive in a particular environment.

How to reduce exposure to toxins, based on our knowledge of a time before they existed

How to apply the foundations of ancestral health to your clients’ lives—and customize them for their individual needs

What "ADAPT" means

We call this the ADAPT Health Coach Training Program for a few reasons. Naturally, ADAPT refers to the fact that we must address mismatch between our genetic code and the modern world we live in by adapting—by aligning our bodies with our environment.

But ADAPT also refers to another thing that must change: Our entire medical system.

The sickcare model that evolved to address acute issues (infection, broken bones, etc.) is not equipped to address the greater threat of chronic disease.

We not only need to adapt our individual behaviors; we need to adapt as a society so that we can more effectively address the issues posing the largest threat to our health and our lives.

ADAPT is about making positive changes that last … and when you’re trained in this approach, you become a change agent.

A robust one-year program with an emphasis on practice and mastery

Enrollment

April – June

Pre-Practicum

June – November

Practicum

December – May

Areas of Study

The program spans three areas of study. Here are just some of the topics we’ll cover:

Group facilitation: how to run groups in private, in a clinical setting, and online

Productivity, time management, and fulfillment

Pre-Practicum Education & Training

Master and apply key concepts in an interactive, innovative format based on advanced learning theory (we promise—no death by PowerPoint)

You’ll devote the first six months of your education to laying the foundation of knowledge for your coaching practice.

But unlike other text-heavy programs, where you drink from a firehose of information and then promptly forget all of it, we designed this program so you can digest it and put it into practice right away.

No, we don’t expect you to learn all about coaching from a slide deck.

It’s not all one-way content, either. The practical application starts during this pre-practicum period, with peer-to-peer coaching, mentor coaching sessions, and dedicated time for developing skills so that you can put what you learn into practice—right away.

Plus, you’ll have opportunities to connect with your fellow classmates and colleagues in our online community so that you can share ideas and interact with TAs and mentor coaches.

Here’s what pre-practicum looks like:

Watch recorded content,

review the handouts, do the exercises and worksheets, and discuss with your classmates

Participate in a weekly webinar

with live demos, breakout sessions, and Q&As led by faculty instructors

For Your Business:

Success Pack: 30+ forms, templates, and resources

Everything you need for getting your practice up and running—quickly and affordably. Examples include:

New client intake forms

Cancellation and late policy

Confidentiality agreement

Informed consent template

Email templates

Technology, software, and hardware recommendations

Important Course Dates

June3

Enrollment ends

June11

Orientation Week begins

June16

Pre-Practicum Period begins

December15

Practicum Period begins

June14

Course Complete

There will be no meetings or sessions during the following weeks: September 8–14, 2018; December 8–14, 2018; March 9–15, 2019.

"When I first met Chris Kresser, I thought I would be meeting an expert in health. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was also meeting someone who was savvy in effective teaching and learning practices. This program is cutting edge."
Dr. Robert Biswas-DienerPositive psychologist, coach, and educator

Start your coaching career today!

OK, so what makes this program different from other coaching programs?

A focus on mastery

You can’t learn coaching without practicing anymore than you can learn piano without your hands on the keys. You have to play over and over to master the skill.

Whereas most coach training programs are 90% information and 10% practice, we aim for the reverse: with as much as 70% focus on practical application, and 30% content over the course of the year.

An innovative approach to learning

The traditional methods for learning (which you were taught in school) don’t work. So we don’t use them. No “firehose” of information. No brute-force memorization. The research on learning theory is very clear—these methods don’t help you actually absorb or use information.

We use the “sprinkler” method:

Content is delivered a little bit at a time, over a longer period of time. Think a couple of hours a week over several months rather than a 3-day workshop.

Topics unfold in a way that mimics how you will apply them later. This helps you put what you learn into practice so it doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other.

Our approach encourages thinking, analysis, problem solving, and discovery—the same skills you need to be successful as a health coach.

We use low-stakes quizzes, prompts, action steps, peer-to-peer practice, and other tools for increasing comprehension and retention. There is no learning without action.

The future of medicine isn’t individual expertise, but a thriving and collaborative ecosystem

Our traditional “sickcare” model of medicine is all about division—one practitioner from another, this specialist from that one, and doctors apart from, well, everyone else.

The future of healthcare isn’t defined by how different we are, but by where and how we collaborate. And that’s a skill and mindset that coaches and practitioners must master in order to lead the way to a new era of healthcare.

We hear from health coaches all the time about the problems they run into between clients and practitioners. For instance:

Your client comes to you and asks why her practitioner is ordering a certain Functional Medicine test

You refer your client to a doctor who then puts her on a low-fat, AHA diet—and she starts getting worse, not better

This lack of communication and collaboration between coach and practitioner can spell frustration for both of you—and trouble for the client.

If coaches are going to be part of the future of medicine, then collaboration is key. It’s crucial to your work, your client’s health, and the reinvention of healthcare. And few, if any, programs are equipped to offer it.

Coaches struggle to find Functional Medicine practitioners to refer clients to—and practitioners are in desperate need of good coaches.

We’re the first organization that trains practitioners and coaches under the same theoretical and practical framework.

The ADAPT program provides more than training; it’s an ecosystem in which coaches and practitioners are not only trained in the same approach—they have the opportunity to connect with each other.

The result? Far more effective and synergistic collaboration.

A foundation for collaboration

While coaches are not trained to practice medicine, having a clearer understanding of how Functional Medicine and ancestral health works can give you a powerful lens for working with both clients and practitioners.

As part of the ADAPT Health Coach Training Program, you’ll also:

Gain insights into Functional Medicine and ancestral health that make you more informed

Learn the best ways to collaborate with practitioners

Get connected with licensed clinicians who are committed to the same goals—and who make great referral partners

The ADAPT Health Coach Training Program also stands out because it:

Emphasizes practical application over book learning, so you can not only acquire the knowledge you need, but more importantly, master the core skills and competencies that will make you a successful coach.

Embraces an ancestral approach to diet, lifestyle, and behavior, with specific recommendations that are based on both peer-reviewed evidence and clinical experience—instead of just providing general information about a wide range of diets, as most other health coach trainings do.

Teaches you to create customized programs for your clients, based on their unique circumstances and goals, rather than simply offering vague, one-size-fits-all guidance that ignores their individuality.

Gives you a Functional Medicine context, without leading you beyond the legal scope of a health coach practice (which could put you at legal risk). While we don’t train you to interpret labs or treatment protocols, which is beyond the scope of a coach, we give you a familiarity with them, while underscoring your role as an expert in human behavior change.

Is directed by a global thought leader in Functional Medicine and the application of the ancestral approach and Paleo principles to the prevention and reversal of chronic disease.

Features content delivered and taught by the same experts who created it. Some coaching programs have guest appearances by experts with short added Q&A sessions. Our curriculum was created by top experts in each of the core competency areas (e.g., motivational interviewing, character strengths, stages of change, etc.), and these sessions are hosted by the experts themselves.

Join a new class of health coaches poised to lead the healthcare revolution.

There are lots of reasons to become a health coach.

You’re ready for a new career. You’re passionate about health. You want to contribute to something larger. You want to put your own experience to good use in helping others.

But one of the most powerful reasons to invest in a health coach training program is simply this:

Becoming a good coach makes you a better person.

It’s true. Because the capacities you need to be a good health coach really do serve you in every other area of your life, from your relationship with your partner to the way you parent your kids to how you experience your life and the world around you.

Think about how your life and relationships would improve if you were to hone your skills in:

Mindfulness, which is the ability to stay present with yourself and others

Financing Options

Enrollment for 2018 has ended.

Be sure to get notified about important news and updates related to the 2019 enrollment, including information about potential scholarships, by signing up below.

Email*

Meet our Coach Contributors

Chris Kresser MS, LAc

Creator and Executive Director

Chris Kresser, MS, LAc, is the Co-Director of the California Center for Functional Medicine, founder of Kresser Institute, creator of ChrisKresser.com, and the New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Cure. He is one of the most respected clinicians and educators in the fields of Functional Medicine and ancestral health and has trained over 1,000 practitioners around the world in his unique approach. Chris was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and fitness by Greatist.com and has appeared as a featured guest on Dr. Oz and Fox & Friends and in other national media outlets. His new book, Unconventional Medicine, presents a three-step plan for reinventing healthcare and reversing chronic disease using Functional Medicine, an ancestral diet and lifestyle, and a collaborative practice model that links health coaches with licensed providers. Chris lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and daughter.

Robert Biswas-Diener, PhD

Robert is the foremost authority on positive psychology coaching and has consulted with a wide range of international organizations on performance management and talent development.

He conducts trainings on coaching, strengths, positivity, courage, and appreciative inquiry with organizations and businesses around the world and through his own coaching school, Positive Acorn. Robert has trained professionals in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, and the Middle East. He has a doctorate in social psychology and a master’s degree in clinical psychology and is an ICF Professional Certified Coach. He is the author of Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching, The Courage Quotient, and The Upside of Your Dark Side, among other books.

John Kinyon

John is on a mission to help people learn communication and conflict resolution skills that create empathy, compassion, and collaboration. For more than two decades, John has mediated conflicts in a wide range of contexts, including families, businesses, and organizations.

A certified trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) since 2000, he’s the co-creator of the international Mediate Your Life (MYL) training program, which draws on the international work of Compassionate Communication (Nonviolent Communication/NVC) with mindfulness and a mediation framework.

A seasoned speaker, trainer, and coach, he’s the author of several books, including When Your Mind Sabotages Your Dreams: Turning Your Critical Internal Voices into Collaborative Allies. He studied clinical psychology at Penn State University, and during his five years of doctoral study, he worked as a psychotherapist with individuals and groups and as a research assistant at the Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute. John lives with his wife and children in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Forest Fein

Forest is the Founder and Director of Wise Up: Simple Tools for Greater Wisdom + Wellbeing, a nonprofit offering mindfulness-based, science-backed trainings to organizations and corporations. He is also the Curriculum Director and Lead Instructor of Mindfulness Programs for Teens + Young Adults at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Through community partnerships, Forest designs and teaches mindfulness-based wellness programs to support at-risk and homeless youth and the people who serve them to experience greater resiliency, health, and well-being. As of 2018, his programs have touched the lives of more than 2,000 youth. All of his work is rooted in teachings and practices that support compassionate awareness of and care for oneself, one another, and our world. Forest has been practicing mindfulness since 1999.

Jillian Darwish, EdD

Jillian currently serves as president of Mayerson Academy, a professional learning services firm dedicated to transforming individual, team, and organizational performance. Under her leadership, the academy has become the exclusive education partner to the VIA Institute as it works to utilize the science of character strengths to transform cultures. VIA Institute has been featured in EdWeek, Live Happy, and US News & World Report.

An award-winning educator, she has received national recognition for her work and has held leadership positions across the education sector, including work in philanthropy, public television, service agencies, higher education, and the K–12 system. In her work at KnowledgeWorks, a national education foundation based in Cincinnati, she led efforts to construct future-oriented organizational visions and strategies, transform education, and create a robust teacher-to-teacher learning community.

Kerry Evers, PhD

Kerry is Co-President and CEO of Pro-Change Behavior Systems, Inc., a research and development company on a mission to disseminate evidence-based behavior change solutions to maximize health and well-being.

In July 2011, Kerry was named one of Rhode Island’s top businesspeople in the annual “40 Under Forty” feature in Providence Business News based on her career success and community involvement. She has close to 40 publications and has been invited to speak at close to 100 meetings and conferences in the United States and around the world.

She obtained Pro-Change’s first SBIR funding from NIH in 1998 and has been integral in the awarding and implementation of many of Pro-Change’s corporate contracts. She is currently the Principal Investigator on $2.5 million of SBIR contracts with the National Institutes of Health. She received her PhD from the University of Rhode Island, where she is now adjunct faculty. She is actively involved in a variety of professional societies and several boards of local nonprofits.

Lynne Broderick

As a Senior Manager at Pro-Change Behavior Systems, Inc., Lynne works closely with the intervention development teams, content experts, and software architects on a variety of health behavior change programs to ensure their success by keeping them on track and on budget.

In addition to overall project management, Lynne also develops and writes content for Pro-Change’s LifeStyle Management Suite and is responsible for overseeing Pro-Change’s ongoing NCQA Certifications. More recently, she has been working with clients to deepen their understanding of the Transtheoretical Model and behavior change and best implement Pro-Change’s well-being solutions to facilitate change.

Originally from Massachusetts, Lynne came to Pro-Change from Atlanta, Georgia, where she obtained her master’s degree in public health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Ken Kraybill, MSW

Ken has worked in health, behavioral health, and homelessness/housing for over 30 years. He is a Senior Associate at the Center for Social Innovation and Director of Training for t3 (think. teach. transform.).

Drawing on his direct service and supervisory experience, Ken has developed various curricula in best practices. He provides onsite and online training nationally on motivational interviewing, supervision, outreach and engagement, tenancy support, trauma-informed care, and renewal for care providers. Ken earned his master’s degree at the University of Washington in Seattle and his undergraduate degree from Goshen College in Indiana.

Ali Hall, JD

Ali is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and served as Lead Trainer for MINT’s International Training for New Trainers (TNT) in Berlin in 2015.

Ali works full time as an independent consultant and trainer; has designed and facilitated over 1200 Motivational Interviewing workshops for healthcare practitioners, behavioral health clinicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and criminal/juvenile justice professionals; and provides training for trainers in evidence-based practices. Ali offers MI coding and skill development coaching and provides consultation to systems for effective MI implementation.

Keith Rhys

For more than 30 years, Keith has helped natural health and wellness companies and entrepreneurs find their unique message, attract their passionate audience, and create lasting authority, impact, and income.

As a former health products marketing VP, content marketing expert, and strategic advisor, Keith has helped health practitioners, wellness authors, supplement formulators, and some of the biggest alternative wellness companies in the world break through the noise and get noticed.

Keith has shown his clients how to go from nonexistent to #1 on Google for meaningful keywords in under six months and grow their lists from 5,000 to 100,000 in under a year. In addition to producing multiple New York Times best-selling health authors, he has helped health practitioners launch digital products that produce 200 percent more income annually than they make from seeing patients.

Keith now works exclusively with current and future thought leaders in health and wellness through private consulting and via his online guided course, Evergreen Authority. He teaches you how to build an audience and attract clients, patients, and followers without becoming a full-time marketer, without putting your practice on the back burner, and without sacrificing your purpose and authenticity.

Jonathan Posey

Jonathan Posey is the Executive Director for the Council of Holistic Health Educators, of which Chris Kresser LLC is a member. The council is a membership-based advocacy organization made up of holistic health schools, organizations, practitioners, and supporters, working to protect the practice of holistic health by defeating harmful legislation and lobbying to pass laws that protect and grow our diverse profession.

Jonathan brings over a decade of experience in lobbying, public policy, and grassroots activism in food and consumer safety. Recognizing the need for an organization that exclusively represented the interests of the holistic health and nutrition community, Jonathan created a coalition of like-minded holistic schools to protect the practice of holistic health. This coalition grew to become the Council.

Lisa Fraley, JD

Lisa is an attorney, Legal Coach®, speaker, and #1 best-selling author of Easy Legal Steps...That Are Also Good for Your Soul. She’s also the host of the Legally Enlightened podcast on iTunes. As a Holistic Lawyer®, she uniquely blends her legal expertise with her caring health and life coaching skills to help thousands of heart-centered entrepreneurs protect themselves, their businesses, and their brands.

She’s known for sharing the “Legal Love” through DIY legal templates, online legal courses, and 1:1 services, and also for aligning legal steps with the chakras. Lisa’s been featured on hundreds of podcasts and webinars and has spoken on international stages. Lisa's mission is to help small business owners understand that the law can be accessible, empowering, loving, and even spiritual.

Mary Beth McGavran

Mary Beth Diener McGavran, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky and serves as the Associate Director of Clinical Training.

Her work focuses on clinical training with graduate students in clinical psychology, and she also enjoys working on an interprofessional team to facilitate service learning with medical and allied health students. Since 2014 she has been a mental health specialist doing pro bono work with people who are refugees at the Survivors of Torture Recovery Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. McGavran graduated from Grinnell College with Phi Beta Kappa honors and earned her PhD at the University of Kentucky in 1999. She grew up in Illinois.

Laura Schoenfeld, RD

Laura Schoenfeld is a Registered Dietitian trained in Functional Medical nutrition therapy. She draws from a variety of sources to form her philosophy on nutrition, including ancestral diets, principles of biochemistry, current research, and clinical experience.

Laura helps her clients identify and implement diet and lifestyle changes that will allow them to live a healthy, fit, symptom-free life without being consumed by thoughts of food and exercise. She loves traveling with her husband, Sundays at her church, hikes with her dog, beach trips, live music, and heavy weight training.

Kelsey Kinney

Kelsey Kinney, MS, RD, is a Registered Dietitian in private practice specializing in digestive and hormonal health. She completed her bachelor’s degree in nutrition at New York University and holds a master’s degree from the University of Western States in human nutrition and functional medicine.

Kelsey works with her clients to address all aspects of chronic digestive and hormonal disease including balancing the microbiome, optimizing motility, regulating the HPA axis, enhancing the gut-brain axis and, of course, encouraging a healthy diet and lifestyle. In doing so, she brings her clients from daily discomfort to full, vibrant health.

Change the world from home

While some coaching programs require that you fly to another location several times a year (which can add thousands of dollars in expenses), our program is 100% virtual, which means you can stay on track with the program from wherever you happen to be. You can access the recorded content anytime through the membership site, and all you need to participate in the live sessions is an internet connection.

Enrollment for 2018 has ended.

Be sure to get notified about important news and updates related to the 2019 enrollment, including information about potential scholarships, by signing up below.

Financing Options

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to travel to participate?

Nope! While some coaching programs require that you fly to another location several times a year (which can add thousands of dollars in expenses), our program is rolled out virtually, so you can learn from the comfort of your home or office.

Will I get support or any individual attention?

You will absolutely get support. The program is designed not just to educate, but to offer plenty of opportunities for feedback, live Q&A with the instructors, and small group coaching. If you have questions or issues and want more insight, you’ll have access to mentor coaches and TAs who can address them with you.

Are you going to show me how to start my business?

Yes. Setting up your business is critical to your success as a coach, and one of the three critical areas of study is professional development.

Not only will you learn how to set up your business (legal, banking, bookkeeping, accounting, scheduling), but you will also study productivity, scheduling and time management, and referral partnerships, as well as policies for running your practice. We’ll also give you opportunities to build your online presence and platform and marketing and sales strategies to gain greater visibility.

What are the enrollment requirements?

You automatically qualify if you a) have a professional license, certification, or associate’s degree or higher in any healthcare or wellness-related field or b) have at least two years of full-time work experience in a healthcare or wellness-related field. You can also qualify with other types of education and experience as well. Please refer to our Health Coach Training Program Eligibility Form to verify if you qualify.

When does the program start?

Orientation begins the week of June 9, and you’ll have access to the content modules starting June 16.

Is this program 100% online?

Yes! The program is completely virtual, no travel required.

What is the weekly time commitment?

We estimate that with the recorded content, live sessions, and the work you’ll do on your own and with your assigned partner, you’ll spend 8-10 hours per week on this course.

Will you offer scholarships, financial assistance, or payment plans?

Yes! We offer a 12-month payment plan if you do not wish to pay in full. If you need to spread the payments out over longer than 12 months, there are a couple of other financing options available through third parties—see our Financing pagefor more information. In addition, we do offer a partial scholarship. Please see our Scholarship page to learn more and apply.

Can I take this program if I don’t live in the United States?

Yes, we’ll hold live support sessions at various times and make every effort to accommodate those living in different time zones. And of course since the content is virtual, you can access it anytime.

What formats will the content be delivered in?

You’ll learn in a variety of ways—as we said, there will be video content and slide decks, as well as audio content, downloadable worksheets and resources, and live sessions. All you need is an internet connection to participate!

Can I work ahead?

The content will be released weekly, so you can’t work ahead, but trust us—you will have plenty to do, and we believe the value in this course is that you’re not drinking from a firehose, but instead will have the chance to pace yourself and really absorb and apply the material.

How long will I have access to the content?

You’ll have one year following certification.

What if I miss a live event? Will I be able to view it later?

Yes! Not to worry. We understand that sometimes you may have a scheduling conflict. We record all the live sessions, and you’ll have access to them later.

If I wasn’t able to order labs prior to starting this program, will I be able to order labs after becoming certified in this program?

No. Certification will not allow you to practice beyond your current licensure, certification, or scope.

If I completed the ADAPT Practitioner Training Program, do I get a discount on the Health Coach Training Program?

We understand and applaud the interest that healthcare practitioners have in also becoming better coaches. While you do automatically qualify and get preferential consideration in filling the limited spots for this enrollment, we do not currently offer any discounts for the 12-month program.

What kind of contact will I have with Chris?

Chris will host a live Q&A each month on a series of topics throughout the program.

I’m already a certified health coach. Can I just take the Functional Health and/or Professional Development tracks? Can I just focus on specific areas of study?

You’re welcome to take this course as a certified health coach! We work with lots of certified coaches who really want to expand and deepen their expertise, particularly in the areas of ancestral health and Functional Medicine. That said, the program at this time must be taken in its entirety, as it is designed, and cannot be broken up.

What if I start the program and decide it’s not for me? Is there a money-back guarantee?

We make every effort to ensure that you have everything you need to make a confident and informed decision before you enroll. If you are considering enrolling but feel unsure, please schedule a free consultation with an enrollment advisor.

Please do not enroll in the ADAPT Health Coach Training just to “check it out.”

We offer a refund prior to the end of the enrollment period. We also have a satisfaction/refund policy that applies to the first six weeks of the course. You can read the details of the refund policy here. After six weeks, no refunds are offered.

What if my circumstances change and I no longer have time to keep up with the coursework?

You will have access to the course materials for a full 12 months after the end of the 12-month course calendar. You can take breaks and take things at your own pace. Finish as you have the time. The live support will be available only during the first 12 months, however. If you think you need more than just a little break or flexibility, you can also apply for a transfer to the next course. Please see the full transfer policy for details.